Military of Froturn
The military of Froturn is currently the third strongest in Continental Artograch. Land Army Since feudalism never existed in Froturn, Froturn never relied on levies like Etrand - instead, Froturn has always had a history of using professional troops. The Froturnish army is considered to be "elitist" - all of its troops are professionals, many of whom have a lifetime of training. This, however, comes with several disadvantages: the army is inflexible and unable to adapt to the changing times, it is very expensive to expand the army, and the over-reliance on heavy units and the absence of light units means that the army of Froturn has a hard time reacting quickly to outside threats. The land army of Froturn consists of: * Silverhelms: the Heavy Cavalry of Froturn, named after the well-polished steel helmets they wear and their swords made out of stainless steel, always looking like silver. They wear plated armour and use longswords. * Footmen: the main Heavy Infantry of Froturn, they wear plated armour, and are also equipped with a shield, a sword short and two javelins each. * Pikemen: the secondary Heavy Infantry of Froturnn, they wear scale armour and use long pikes. * Longbowmen: The archers of Froturn, they wear chainmail and use longbows with bodkin arrows. Longbowmen are trained from childhood, giving birth to the stereotype about Elves being good at archery. * Slingers: Composed mainly of Halflings, they wear chainmail and are equipped with slings and daggers. They mainly serve in garrisons and city guards, rather than open battles. * Various siege engines: ballistae, catapults, trebuchets, etc. Navy The Froturnish navy consists of cogs, caravels and galleons. Since Froturn has never really had any threats from overseas, the navy was always neglected. Military history Early Army Before the reign of Queen Salvia the Great, who unified Froturn for the first time in the 13th century BEKE, the various clans of Froturn fought in a way remiscent of the Proto-Elves and the later Wood Elves: relying mostly on infantry equipped with both bows and axes (or swords, for the elite), lacking discipline. These warriors did not fight in formations, as warfare before Salvia came along was mostly endemic, fought between very small groups of raiding parties rather than full armies. After Salvia unified Froturn for the first time, she created an army composed to heavy cavalry with swords - forming the Queen's personal retinue -, heavy infantry with swords and shields, light infantry with spears and slingers. Archers were rare - they were equipped with shortbows, and were part of the Queen's personal retinue. During the wars with Fathred's Confederation, the High Elven army has proven to be ineffective against the Etrandish troops, despite having discipline and being much more organized. The infantry-centric Froturnish army was smashed by the cavalry-centric Etrandish, and the javelins of the humans have proven to be the biggest disaster for the High Elves. Even though their final battle against Fathred's Confederation was a victory ending in the destruction of the state, the Queen herself died in the final battle. The people of Froturn learned an important lesson that day: never be ashamed to learn from the enemy. It was at that point when javelins were introduced to Froturn. The Warring Clans Era Between the death of Queen Salvia in 1106 and the ascension of Queen Taela the Wise and her predecessor's efforts at reunification, Froturn was ruled by two weak-handed kings who allowed Froturn to descend into a period of civil war lasting for almost four centuries. During those almost four centuries of absence of a central power, the various clans took on their own ways of fighting. The clans of Southern Froturn were influenced by Dragoc, replacing shortbows and slings with longbows, axes with swords. The clans of Eastern Froturn invested in heavy cavalry to deter both Etrandish raids and incursions from other clans. The clans of Northern Froturn invested in long pikes to counter cavalry. King Lynésus the Wolf-Hearted took all the reforms the other clans made, and created his own reformed army that had the winning recipe: heavy cavalry, long pikes, javelins, longbows, swordsmen. Lynésus used this new reformed army to forcefully crush all other clans, but it would be Taela who would finally consolidate the realm of Froturn. Late Archaic Era At that period of time, the army Froturn has today was already halfway there: just like in the late Archaic Era going from the 8th century BEKE to the 3th century AEKE, right now, in the 9th century AEKE, Froturn's army has Silverhelms, Footmen, Pikemen, Longbowmen and Slingers. However, in the 8th century BEKE, Froturn's military was still clan-based. Armies had allegiances to clans, rather than the state of Froturn. It was during those ten centuries of slow transition that the armies of Froturn were transformed from clan-based tribal levies into professional legions, composed of professionals who were paid for military service, who were trained to be good at the weapon they were using. It was also during that period time when Froturn finally started having a navy. The period also saw an overall improvement in the quality of weapons. It was during that time period when the stereotype of High Elven perfection arose, from the quality of their weapons. After the Demonic Invasions The Demonic invasions of Artograch saw a sudden shift in the military of Froturn. The inability of the centralized armies to respond to external threats in a swiftly manner compelled the military to enact necessary reforms. The Froturnish military would be split in two: the Central Army under the leadership of the central government, and the Provincial Armies, which were under the leadership of the provincial governments, allowing for faster response to external and internal threats, but also giving ammunition to renegade governors to foster civil wars. Some controversially, the current period is also seeing the increasing militarization of Froturn's police, blurring the line between military and police - city militias are being equipped with the same plated mail, swords and javelins that footmen are equipped with, and being encouraged to respond to internal threats with extreme prejudice. Category:Kingdom of Froturn